Logging cart



June 22, 1948. c. E. ALEXANDER 2,443,972

LOGGING CART Filed Nov. 12, 194 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 g o 1 E;

Inventor June 22, 1948. A c. E. ALEXANDER 4 LOGGING CART Filed. Nov. 12,1946 I n ventar 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 22, 1948. E. ALEXANDER LOGGINGCART 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed NOV. 12, 1946 78 I lweyztar C/zarfesflfifexarzder:

June 22, 1948. c. E; ALEXANDER LOGGING CART 4 Shefs-Sheet 4 Filed Nov.12, 1946 w w a A I Q I W/ A W/ Patented June 22, 1 948 UNITED:

oF-Fi QQQ ART! Charles =E3-Alexander,ffialeighgNl Cw pigli afi mNovember-J 5 nne tion;

nd 5 1 99 1 n t f lo gin -chai t Lih ...s:a t;

l r s a d asse tendin b w nli 1 i r a f a t .i erax a..w eels nng he.le-a a ij neuspivo b w th raral ei j n's q l to ssw ng a o t z n' artaxi ;s za a s flbly t latch a t t n ue; ain ta ve e animals twttachthe logging chain to theaxl; 2;-

Other features includereinforcing gussetsjat the junctions of thesidebars with'their respego tivefpa rallel extensions, and a stop"adjacent; th forward; ends of theparallel extensions" to limit themovement of; the} draft tongue above fjts pivot when the cart-isin'loading position fl In--the dra ings Figure l is a top rplan view unei h r f tur 'qt t is of logging; cart ern-bodyi en c ifi.

re? i a i a mentar "s i wfitmenti ts "ii sia ti l e enaiihe'l e ;2= iig-h ait n 40 Figure 3 a e r e qt w f th le iestse tti..

Figure g is a View similar to FigdreB owing,

a lb' ia b @ldgs sus n ed; i li ep ure. 5, s V w, im l r1' ;Fi 1 1' thecart in-folded" positionreadyto rece load Figure 6 is a side view ofthe" releasable chain retainer,

Figure 7 is an end View of Figure 6,

Figure8 is an enlarged fragmentary-side yiew 59 of a latch, i

Fi ure 1. ns q i nally ew 0 Figure lfl is an enlargedsectjonal view suhstantiallyflon the line Ill-{ 1 l] ofil igure Referringtethe drawingsin;detail 'imf 55 proveddoggir g cart designated generally [5 n ma i e.an pflqoerrseetsi h i amie: IyifQIfmedzQfchannels.iron w h theiefianges.turned outwardly. The side bars l6 are formed with parallel forwardextensions l1 adjacent their 00 milin 1 ysr ts u 8, and latent.

194 Serial mtaoazes convergent ends and welded or otherwise secured to'thejoottomfian esofzthe Sidelbars [6 is ,a bed ,t plate 8. "of.generally triangular ,form, Suitable i jare, welded or otherwise reinfreed-i u se s attached to the sidej bars l 6 j and extensions iiiadjacent their junctionsas ,will be readily under stood upo greferenceto Figure l. Welded or. otherwise attached. to the parallel extensions i1 ja ent t ir f r rd e s. a re o yo 2El jand weldedto theflextensions Hadjacent the yoire'jilis a stop ,plate 2| the purpose of which}wii1',m9re.f u11y hereinafter appear,

Welded or otherwise attached' to the divergent ends 'of the side bare itis an axle designated ra ly? hi a lesn mnr ses an a str p 1 UIEIC I SEXfQO W i h is ld dorbtherse. 5 6 4. da We 2 ,1We ded to .t ts deta d he Dte ..2. areQ s bs nt al y t ian u rm nd; xtendr'io wardly nve t p ne wupper, edges welded to thebottom flanges of the m. ents de ars! 6- uuitable a l gshaftslt erall irQme lower ost end 'o t e sslii tmeq ibthearch axle; 22 nd d le S a t 211m wheels z'a p e t of j relativelylarge diameter;

Welded or otherwise attached to the, top plate 2619f the axle22,'adjacent one end thereof is ja crotcl ed "retainer ;29t"i n thecrotch 3i)' ofgwhich t,

one end pf a loggingchaintiil (Figure 4) .is received. ,-,A chainretainer; designated generally' 321s attached to th'efaxle 22-adla9entits opposite n ,kand; 1 i :ch ini r a e comprises a i of angle hrackets3 3" WhiQh are welded on othervwise; attached to the; plate 26 "and toone of the side; bars [6 .asjillustrated-in Figure 1. 'These anglebrackets are 'arrangedinspaced parallel re-- Y latign and piyotallysupported at 3 3 1 adjacent their rear ends is a 1 ever35.'* Formedatthe'end o:E .the lever-BFadja entthe pivot 34 and ingecntr it f desired, ;:to discharge the load. In order "to maintain the lever- 3 5-in;'1oad receiving .posi

"the roller w ch. th iner is inp oad tainin il s iqn ene geslt au per ceof t e,

lever 35 tohold it against pivotal movement above its pivot 34. Aretractible coil spring 42 is anchored at one end to a stud 43 carriedby p i j relation thereto is 1 an enlarged head 35 t carrying achain;receiving notch 37* into which? theflopposite" end ;of the"logging chain3l"is adaptedjobe' recei ed-QItds to be notedthat the;notch 31i'S ,offset with relation to; the pivot 341so;,t hat thelweight-era load of logs orpll e chain villftendf to =move the leverBE-{intogthe dottedline positionjfillustrated in Figure 6 topermitjthechain-toslip out of thenotch Blwhen one of the brackets 33 andat its opposite end to an extension 44 of the axle shaft of the rollerti. One of the bars 48 is extended as at 45 and is pierced adjacent itsfree end as at 65 for the reception of one end of a flexible cable 41by'means of which the retainer 38 may be swung about its pivot 355 todisengage the lever 35 as suggested by the dotted lines in Figure 6. Asuitable stop 48 limits the movement of the retainer 38 under theinfluence of the flexible member 67. It will be understood of coursethat the opposite end of the flexible member is carried forwardly to apoint within easy reach of t -e 'Zisentered into the notch 31 of theretainer 32.

operator of the tractor towhich the logging cart is attached.

Mounted to swing above a horizontal axis at pivotpoint ii! between theparallel extensions ii is a draft tongue 58 carrying at its forward enda downwardly and forwardly extending angle bracket 5! to the extremeforward end of which is pivoted as at 52 a U-shapedyoke 53 in which isswivelly mounted an eye 54 which serves as a coupling unit for thetraction vehicle. It will thus be seen that irrespective of the tiltingof the traction vehicle, no tilting action will be transmitted to thetongue 5E! because of the universal movement of the eye 54. The ends ofthe tongue 5'0 opposite that carrying the bracket 5! is bevelled as at55 for engagement with a latch unit to be more fully hereinafterdescribed.

The latch unit above referred to comprises an inverted U -shaped yoke 56which is pivotally supported at 5? in brackets 58 which are attached tothe bed plate I6 in anysuitable' manner. The legs of the yoke 55 extenddownwardly as illustrated in Figures 8 and 9 and welded or otherwisesecured to the bight portion of the yoke 56 is a latch head 5% which asillustrated in Figure 2 is adapted to engage the upper side of thetongue 58 adajacent the end carrying the latch face A hand lever 65 iswelded or otherwise attached to the yoke 55 in order that it may beswung about its pivots 51 to release the tongue 5d and permit the cartto jack knife as illustrated in Figure 5. In order to hold the latchmember 53 into contact with the tongue 50 I weld or otherwise attach tothe cross member 26 an upwardly extending ear 6| which is formed with anopening 62 for the reception of a plunger rod .This plunger rod ismovable through the opening along an axis lying parallel with thelongitudinal axis of the tongue 50. Carried at the forward end of therod '63 is a yoke 64 to the forward end of which is pivotally connectedat 65 a link 65 which extends forwardly and is rigidly fixed to thelatchmember 59 as will be readily understood upon reference to Figure 8.Surrounding the rod 63 between the bracket 6| and the yokefifi is acompression coil spring 61 which yielding'ly holds the entire latchingmechanism in advance tongue engaging position as will be readilyunderstood upon reference to Figure 8.

In order to assure proper alignment of the tongue when the latter is inlatched position, I provide a keeper designated generally 68 whichcomprises a strip of metal bent to form a U-shaped retaining yoke 69 andupwardly divergent, guide bars 10 so that as the tongue moves intoposition to be latched, it will be positively directed into properposition.

In use it will be understood that the cart is backed into position overone end of a bundle.

Upon exerting pull on the eye 54 it will be obvious that the pivot pointt9 will swing about the axes of the wheels 28 to cause the tongue toenter between the guide 10 into the yoke 69, forcing the latch plate '59backward against the pressure of the spring 61 until the upper edge ofthe tongue passes the latch at which time the latch 59 will lock thetongue in substantial alignment with longitudinal axis of the cart body.The logs may then be transported to their destination whereupon theoperator of the traction vehicle exerts pull on the flexible member 41,

' thus causing the retainer 38 to swing about its pivot 39 and the lever35, permitting the latter to fly upwardly under the weight of the logson the chain until the chain releases. Engaging the stop 35', the head36 and the lever 35 will cause the lever to rebound and return to itsoriginal position so that upon releasing pull on the flexible member 41the lever 35 may again be locked in position to receive the loggingchain ready for the next load. 1

When it is again desired to load the cart the process is repeated andthe tongue is again released by exerting pull on the lever to move thelatch 59 against the spring 51 and permit the cart to jack-knife asillustrated in Figure 5.

T The loading may then againtake place and the same cycle ofoperationsrepeated.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferredembodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor changesin the details ofconstruction, combination and arrangement of parts maybe resorted to without departing from the spiritand scope of theinvention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

A logging cart comprising an arched axle, Wheels on opposite ends of theaxle, a side bar fixed adjacent each end of the axle, said side barsconverging as they recede from the axle and .terminating in spacedparallel extensions which he perpendicular to the axle, a draft tonguepivotally supported between the extensions to swing about an axis whichlies parallel to the axle, a U-shaped keeper extending transverselybetween the side bars intermediate the parallel "extensions thereof andthe axle, upwardly extending divergent guides on the keeper for guidingthe draft tongue into the keeper as it swings about the pivotalsupportthereof, and'a latch vmounted on the axle tohold the draft tonguein the keeper.

CHARLES E. ALEXANDER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number

